CAREER: Static, Dynamic and Kinematic Analysis and Optimization of Tensegrity Structures through Cellular Morphogenesis

该学院早期职业发展（Career）奖支持专注于张拉整体结构的生成、分析和优化的研究。张拉整体结构是由处于自平衡状态的受压和受拉构件组成的一类结构。在这个项目中，研究了张拉整体系统，以构思传统民用应用的快速建造结构。然而，该奖项的成果超出了建筑和结构，因为张拉整体系统已经被探索用于各种工程应用，包括超材料，行星着陆器，软机器人，以及模拟生物细胞的机械行为。尽管张拉整体结构已经引起了科学家和工程师的极大兴趣，但关于它们的产生和行为仍然没有统一的理论。因此，该研究项目旨在开发一种形态框架，将设计标准与装配和运动学相结合，同时提供建筑设计自由。该框架通过将复杂系统分解为基本张拉整体单元来控制张拉整体结构的行为。受张拉整体艺术起源的启发，该研究还将通过开发以艺术，科学和工程交叉点为中心的学习模块来补充，与教育专家和学生合作探索基于对象的学习。该研究项目的目标是发展形态学如何用于定义复杂张拉整体结构的稳定性、平衡性、可部署性、结构响应、传感和控制的理论理解。具体而言，研究方法包括：a)理解张拉整体结构中细胞组成与力学行为之间的关系；b)加强张拉整体结构的构建、分析、传感和控制；c)推导一个形态框架，用于生成和优化具有预定义和可转换形式的张拉整体结构，以及可调节的力学行为。为了实现这些目标，将探索一种通过张拉整体系统的细胞组成将拓扑识别和形式查找联系起来的方法，其中细胞是基本张拉整体单元。据推测，调整张拉整体结构的细胞组成及其结构参数可以导致理想的形状，优化的机械性能和有利的控制方法。该项目将允许PI推进张拉整体系统的知识库，并建立他在结构形态学方面的长期职业生涯。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award supports research that will focus on the generation, analysis and optimization of tensegrity structures. Tensegrity represents a class of structures composed of members in compression and tension in a self-equilibrated state. In this project, tensegrity systems are studied to conceive rapidly erected structures for traditional civil applications. However, the outcomes of this award extend beyond architecture and structures as tensegrity systems have been explored for a wide variety of engineering applications including metamaterials, planetary landers, soft robotics, as well as to model the mechanical behavior of biological cells. Although tensegrity structures have received significant interest among scientists and engineers, there is still no unifying theory on their generation and behavior. This research project thus seeks to develop a morphological framework that integrates design criteria with assembly and kinematics while providing architectural design freedom. The framework enables control over the behavior of tensegrity structures by decomposing complex systems into elementary tensegrity units. Inspired by tensegrity’s artistic origin, the research will also be complemented by developing learning modules centered on objects at the intersection of art, science, and engineering, exploring object-based learning in collaboration with educational experts and students.The goal of the research project is to develop a theoretical understanding of how morphology can be used to define the stability, equilibrium, deployability, structural response, sensing, and control in complex tensegrity structures. Specifically, the research approach includes a) understanding the relationship between cellular composition and mechanical behavior in tensegrity structures, b) enhancing the construction, analysis, sensing and control of tensegrity structures, and c) deriving a morphological framework for the generation and optimization of tensegrity structures with predefined and transformable forms, as well as tunable mechanical behaviors. To accomplish these objectives, a method that links topology identification and form finding through the cellular composition of tensegrity systems with cells being elementary tensegrity units will be explored. It is hypothesized that tuning the cellular composition of tensegrity structures along with their structural parameters can lead to desired shapes, optimized mechanical performance, and advantageous control methods. This project will allow the PI to advance the knowledge base in tensegrity systems and establish his long-term career in structural morphology.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.